F-Kenai23: Thanks! I had to pick it back up because I kinda lost my love for it—sadly. I felt like I was trying to appease everyone and throwing ideas away to do that, so it didn't really feel like my story anymore. Now I'm making it mine again and it feels so good!

lilnightmare17: Thanks, here is the next one!

Galwidanatitud: Gotta love it though lol.

Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn left to inspect the generators while everyone else went to their rooms to await the news from the others. Alice and Miri went to Lori's room because Alice wanted to play with Carl.

While the sister-in-laws were talking about random little things to take their mind off the news Jenner dropped on them, the air condition suddenly stopped. Lori and Miri stood up to reach up the vent that the air was supposed to come out of.

"Mom? Aunt Miri?" Carl called out to them as he and Alice played cards. "Something wrong?"

"Uh," Lori looked at Miri before looking back at the kids. "Nothing. It's just the air conditioning stopped."

Miri stared at the air vent. "Let me see if it's just us." She walked over to the door and saw everyone was poking their heads out of their doors and looking around. She saw Jenner walk towards them and walk pass. "Why is the air off?"

"And the lights in our room." Carol told him as she followed Jenner.

"Yo, what's goin' on? Why is everythin' turned off?" Daryl popped his head out of his room with his bottle in hand. Lori, Carl, Ali and Miri followed after Jenner as he bent down and stole Daryl's bottle. Daryl followed right after him, a scowl on his face at the doctor.

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner explained as he took a swig from the bottle.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale questioned but Jenner didn't stop walking, with everyone now following him.

"It's not up to me. The building is shutting itself down."

"Hey!" Daryl yelled to Jenner. "What the hell does that mean?" Jenner didn't answer as we followed him. Daryl ran up next to him. "Hey, I'm talkin' to you. What did you mean 'shuttin' itself down?' how can a buildin' do anythin'?"

"You'd be surprised." Jenner answered.

The sound of running caught their attention and they looked down from where they were to see the ones that left to check the generators.

"Rick?" Lori called down but Miri dragged Lori away from the ledge so they could follow everyone down the steps and get to the guys.

Rick stomped towards Jenner. "Jenner, what is happening?"

Jenner didn't stop walking as he spoke to Rick. "The system is dropping all non-essential uses of power." Rick looked back at his wife and sister, who nodded, letting him know they were all fine. "It's designed to keep the computers running until the last possible second. It starts as we approach the half hour mark."

Everyone looked at the clock on the wall in the room, the control center.

"Right on schedule." The numbers 00:31:28 showed on the clock and it was still counting down. Jenner stopped in front of the steps to the platform and took another swig of Daryl's drink. He then handed it back to Daryl, who gave him a dirty look as he snatched it out of his hands.

"It was the French." Jenner commented to Andrea.

"What?" she looked at him like he was crazy.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." He climbed up the steps with everyone after him.

"What happened to them?" Miri asked.

"Same thing that's happening here. No power grid... ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel, I mean how stupid is that?" he scoffed and turned away.

"Let me tell you somethin'!" Shane went to go attack him but Rick held him back.

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Rick pointed to Lori. "Lori, pack our things. Miri, you too. Everybody get your stuff! We're getting out of here!" he ordered. "Now!" Everyone went to run to get their things when alarms went off and flashing red lights blinded them.

Alice covered her ears as she cried out. "What's happening?!"

Miri held her closer to her leg. "I don't know."

The main screen showed a timer with the words 'FACILITY-WIDE DECONTAMINATION PROTOCOL ACTIVE' and the timer going down from 00:30:00:00.

"Thirty minutes to decontamination." Vi's voice echo throughout the room.

"What the hell is goin' on Doc?!" T-Dog yelled at Jenner as Jenner went over to a table.

"You heard Rick! Get your stuff!" Shane yelled at everyone, making them start running again.

The doorways were covered by a door of metal.

Alice started to cry when everyone started to panic so Miri quickly picked her up and held her close to her chest.

Daryl looked over quickly when he heard crying to see Alice crying into Miri's shoulder as the older blonde held onto her tightly. The sound and sight was heart breaking but she looked up and Daryl quickly looked away to go attack Jenner, who was at a computer. "You son of a bitch!"

"Shane!" Rick pointed to Daryl, who had grabbed the back of Jenner's lab coat and pulled him back as Shane grabbed Daryl away from before he could do harm and T-Dog helped him hold Daryl back.

Rick made his way to Jenner. "Jenner, you open that door right now."

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." He replied coolly.

"Well, open the damn things!" Daryl grunted as he fought against Shane and T-Dog.

Jenner shook his head. "That's not something I control, the computers do. I told you," he pointed to Rick. "Once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

"What is?" Rick asked him frantic and angry. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Jenner just sighed and turned to his computer. Rick looked over at Shane and motioned for him to turn Jenner's chair. "What happens?!" he screamed.

Jenner quickly stood up. "Do you know what this place is?!" spit flew from his mouth as he yelled. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" he stopped yelling and sat down in his chair again. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

Miri tensed up when he said H.I.T.s., remembering those things from an episode she did for her show when they used a lot of explosions. She looked from the timer to Jenner in shock.

"H.I.T.s?" Rick asked him.

Jenner looked down. "Vi, define."

Vi did as told. "H.I.T.s - high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosive consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition which produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

Everyone started to cry and hold their loved one.

"What does that mean?" Alice asked Miri.

"It sets the air on fire." Miri's voice was shaky as she held her closer. Everyone looked shocked at her words.

Jenner nodded. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything."

Daryl walked over to the door and threw his bottle, the bottle shattering and glass and liquor flying. "Open the damn door!"

Shane grabbed and axe and ran to the doors. "Out of my way!" T-Dog threw Daryl an extra axe and they both started to attack the doors.

"You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier." Jenner muttered to the group, the mothers holding their children.

"Easier for who?" Lori asked thickly as she glared at him.

"All of you, you know what's out there." Jenner replied. "A short, brutal life and an agonizing death." He turned to Andrea. "Your-your sister, what was her name?"

"Amy." Andrea said quietly.

"Amy." Jenner repeated. "You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife, son, sister, and her little girl?" He asked Rick.

"I don't want this!" Rick answered with his face twisted in anger.

Shane and Daryl returned from the door, both panting heavily. "Can't make a dent." Shane reported.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner said.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled raising the axe to swing it.

"Whoa, whoa!" Rick yelled as he and Dale grabbed Daryl. "Daryl! Daryl!" They were yelling. T-dog stepped in and helped, pulling the axe from Daryl's hands. "Just back up!" Rick demanded as he and Dale shove Daryl away from Jenner.

"You do want this." Jenner said. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner's words made everyone look at Rick in disbelief. Rick looked at everyone with sad eyes, showing them what Jenner said was true.

"What, you really said that?" Shane asked. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick asked.

"There is no hope." Jenner said. "There never was."

"There's always hope." Rick breathed. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere!"

"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea asked.

"Listen to your friend, she gets it." Jenner pointed to Andrea. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

Miri glared at him. "This isn't right! You can't just keep us here!" She was getting angrier the more she felt Alice cry.

He leaned closer towards her. "One tiny moment, a millisecond, no pain."

Miri narrowed her eyes before she pulled out one of her guns that she put in the back of her pants and pointed it at him. She never took it off her person, except to sleep. "No one deserves to die like this! None of our kids do!"

"Miri, no." Rick walked over to her and tried to pull the gun away but she didn't let him. "Miri." he tried to get her to drop the gun, but she never took her eyes off Jenner.

"I fought hard, every day to keep her alive since the world went to shit and you're not bloody stopping me just because you don't want to die alone." Miri glared at him, wanting him to just open the door and let them free.

He didn't react to the gun pointed at him. "Wouldn't it be kinder?" Jenner whispered. "More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Miri's gun dropped down and her shoulders sagged as realization set in. He wasn't going to let them go. He was going to keep them there with him because he didn't want to go alone. Dale came over and took Sophia and Carol away from their spot on the floor since they were sobbing too much.

Shane came from around the corner, cocking a shot gun. "Shane, no!" Rick yelled.

"Out of the way, Rick." Shane demanded as he pushed Rick away. "Stay out of my way! Open that door." He pointed the gun at Jenner's head. "Or I'm gonna blow your head off. DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

Lori, Carl, Alice and Miri were dragged away from behind Shane by Dale and Glenn.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick came close to Shane.

"Shane, you listen to him." Lori said.

"It's too late." Shane whispered.

"If he dies, we all-"Shane screamed in the middle of Rick's sentence and started to shoot the computers, one by one. Rick had to wrestle the gun from his hands and knock him to the ground. "Are you done now? You done?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. I guess we all are." Shane retorted.

Everyone stood in absolute silence. Daryl, somehow having acquired another axe, looked as if he were ready to blow, again.

"I think you're lying." Rick said

"What?" Jenner asked.

"I think you're lying about no hope." Rick answered. "If that were true you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter." Jenner said quietly.

"It does matter." Rick said. "It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to." Jenner finally answered. "I made a promise." He rose from his chair so that he was the same height as Rick. "To her." He pointed towards the main screen. "My wife."

Everyone's eyes widened with realization. "Test subject 19 was your wife?" Miri asked.

Jenner nodded. "She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Behind everyone, Daryl started to hit the door again, though it still showed no signs of yielding. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein." Everyone could clearly see the loss and passion he held for his wife in his words as he spoke about her. "Me? I'm just, Edwin Jenner. She could have done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice." Rick said. "You do. That's all we want. A choice, a chance."

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori pleaded.

Dr. Jenner looked at the group before turning to the computer. "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." He typed something into a small keypad and the door opened.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled and started off.

"Let's get out of here." Miri picked Alice up and headed for the entrance. She stopped as they saw Jenner whisper something into Rick's ear. Lori ran down and dragged Rick back to the group.

"Hey! We got four minutes! Come on!" Glenn yelled.

"No, I'm stayin'!" Someone cried. Everyone turned back to see Jacqui looking sadly at T-dog. "I'm stayin', sweetie."

"That's insane!" He said.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy." Shane handed Rick Daryl's crossbow and handed Miri her bag, Alice's bag and bow as they watched Jacqui plea her case. "There's no time to argue and no point if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out." She pleaded as she pushed T-Dog away.

"Come on, let's go." Shane said. Miri turned and ran from the room, right at Daryl's heels. They all burst out into the large entrance hall together. "Get them doors open!" Shane yelled as Rick and Glenn slammed against the door. T-Dog tried the keypad, but nothing happened. Daryl and Shane tried the windows with the axes but no results.

Miri put Alice down near Lori and grabbed a metal chair. "Move!" She yelled before she threw the chair into the window with all her might, but still the windows didn't surrender. They didn't even shake. T-Dog grabbed the chair from the ground and continuously hit the windows with the chair, but still nothing.

"Get down!" Shane warned. He lifted a high-powered rifle and aimed at the widows, but still the glass didn't succumb. "Jesus." he breathed.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia cried.

"Rick," Carol called out. "I have something that might help." She started to rustle through her bag urgently.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane said.

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." Carol pulled out a grenade and handed it to Rick.

He took it and headed towards the window. "Look out!" he warned and everyone got away from the windows, hiding behind cover. Miri moved her hands to cover her ears after making sure Alice had her ears covered, then jumped from the explosion. She rose with the others and they all climbed out of the window. She fixed her bags and bow as soon as her feet hit the ground and made sure Alice was securely hugging her chest. She didn't want to put her on the ground where all the glass was and with her in her arms, it was easier to run. "Get to the cars!" Rick instructed.

As they ran, several walkers came out since they were attracted to the noise. Shane and Rick took most out with their guns, but Daryl lobbed one's head clean off with his axe.

Daryl moved Miri out of the way before a walker got her and pointed to his truck. "Get in my truck! Now!" She climbed into the truck and Daryl went to start the ignition. Rick and Lori started yelling and hocking the RV's horn, telling everyone to get down. Daryl and Miri ducked towards the middle with Alice safely between them. Daryl protectively put his arms over Miri's head.

Then the loudest sound that they had ever heard rang through the area and shook the cars.

Alice and Miri jumped but Daryl kept them down with his body weight. No one moved, didn't dare move until they were sure it was safe. She sat up slowly and looked out the window. The entire CDC was rubble now, most of it ash and fire. The fire was so bright that it hurt her eyes and she had to turn away. "Ali, you okay?" She looked her over as Alice nodded her head. She kissed her head. She looked up at Daryl. "Thank you, again."

Daryl just looked at her and looked away with a nod, his heart hammering in his chest from the events.

They sat still for a few moments as Andrea and Dale made it into the RV before Rick finally pulled the RV out and everyone followed, setting out to anywhere that wasn't here. The RV was in front, Carol's car after, T-Dog's van, Daryl's truck and lastly Shane since he was the last one to pull into the line.

As they drove away, Miri looked into the side mirror and saw black smoke and flames signaling where the CDC once stood.

After they were a safe distance away from the CDC, they stopped to decide where they were going now.

They all decided to give Shane's idea a try. They were getting ready to go to Fort Benning, which was a hundred and twenty-five miles away. They were going to leave Daryl's truck, Shane's jeep and T-Dog's van so they used less gas. Daryl and T-Dog grabbed empty gas tanks and hoses to take the gas from the cars that they were leaving behind.

Miri put Alice in Carol's car with the rest of the kids so she wouldn't be bored and so Rick could watch her. She handed her the pack that was hers. "Burnie is inside safe and if anything, you tell Uncle Rick and Aunt Lori, okay?" Alice nodded. "I'll be in the caravan. If you want to talk to me, remember the walkie we used back at the house? Well it's in your bag, mine is in my bag."

Lori came over. "Hey there, I heard you're gonna ride with us."

"Yes, ma'am." Alice nodded.

Lori chuckled at her manners. "She's so cute."

"Yeah, she is." Miri pulled on one of her pigtails softly, making her laugh. She helped her into the car but left the door open so the air can come in. "You listen to the adults. Okay, sweetie?" Alice nodded. Miri stuck her pinky out. "Pinky promise."

"Pinky promise." Alice wrapped her pinky around hers. She puckered her lips and Miri let her give her a kiss on the cheek, which she returned.

"Behave." Miri told her. "Love you."

"Love you too."

Lori chuckled. "You would think you were leaving her for a good while. It's sweet."

Miri shrugged her shoulders. "I want her to feel safe with you guys." She lowered her voice. "Just in case."

Lori nodded, serious now. "I understand." She grabbed her shoulder then ran it down her hand, squeezing it. "I want the same for Carl."

Miri gave Lori a small smile. She and Lori almost always got along, expect when they first met and she thought Rick was cheating on her. She threw everything in her hands at him until she listened to what he had to say. She apologized repeatedly and they had gotten close since that day. "Well, I better get into the caravan. Ali has a walkie talkie and I told her if she wanted to talk to me, just use the walkie."

Lori nodded. "Alright."

Miri grabbed her duffle bag and bow case from the floor and brought it to the RV, Glenn taking it from her hand to put it inside. She heard the rumbling of a bike and turned around.

Daryl was sitting on the bike as he rode by slowly without a helmet.

She remembered something in her bag that she meant to give him. "Hey, Daryl." She called out for his attention and he stopped. She looked through her bag and pulled out the bottle of rum that was a filled a quarter. "Here. I know it's not a lot, but I stole some of yours back at the CDC."

He grabbed it and looked it over. "What's this for?" his eyes squinted in the sun as he looked at her.

"That is for all the times you helped me. You deserve it." She smiled prettily before she walked away and saw Shane glaring at the bottle in Daryl's hand and looked to Rick and Lori. She gave a small wave to Alice as she climbed into the RV, where she put on her leather arm bracer. It was the one thing that took almost forever since it had to be fitted right by pulling the strings tighter. She didn't put on her quiver since it didn't take that long to put on and her bow was leaning against the driver seat with its case supporting it up.

Shane and Dale came in as she clipped her machete onto her belt and put her gun at the waistline of her jeans by the back. Andrea and T-Dog followed after.

Dale was driving while Glenn sat next to him studying the road map, Andrea and Shane were sitting at the table while T-Dog and Miri were chatting about little things in the kitchen area of the caravan.

"I'm sorry about Jacqui." Miri put her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

T-Dog pressed his lips together. "It was her choice, she didn't wanna fight no more."

"Oh jeez." Dale cursed from the driver seat. The RV stops and they all walk to the front to see why. In front of them was a traffic jam with hundreds of derelict vehicles. Daryl, on his bike, went around the RV and pulled up to Dale's window. "You see any way around?"

Daryl looks back and motions to follow him with a nudge of his head.

"Uh," Glenn started nervously. "Maybe we should go back. There's an interstate bypass few miles back."

"We can't spare the fuel." Dale tells him as they carefully crawl through the wreckage after Daryl.

"Jeez." mumbled Glenn as he looked around.

"Spot on words there, Glenn." Miri looked around the cars, noticing dead bodies in some of the cars, but thankfully they weren't moving as they passed by.

"Are you sure we can get pass?" Glenn's question gets answered as a loud pop and smoke starts coming from the front of the RV. Screeches followed. Everyone got out of their cars and went to the front of the RV.

"I said it." Dale pressed his lips together as he looked at the smoke. "Didn't I say it a thousand times? Dead in the water." Dale shook his head.

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked him as he looked around.

"Well just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…" Dale stopped talking as he noticed they were surrounded by cars. Daryl was looking through one of the cars as they were talking. "Okay, that was dumb." Dale continued.

"Can't find a radiator hose here." Shane joked to Dale.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we could find here." Daryl started to shift through all the things in the car.

"Siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog goes over and checks if the car has gas.

"More water and food." Carol held Sophia close to her

"This is a graveyard." Lori commented uncomfortably. Everyone stayed quiet and looked at each other. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Lori," Miri went over to her and grabbed her hand in a sisterly way. "We need these supplies. Think of everyone. Think of Carl."

Lori looked over at Carl and nodded. "Alright. Okay." She caved in.

T-Dog went to get the gas tanks as everyone separated to go look for supplies.

Miri walked over to Alice, who was standing next to Lori, Carol and the kids. She bent down and balanced herself on the balls of her feet. "Hey, you want to come with me to go look for things?"

She shook her head. "I wanna stay with Aunt Lori and Aunt Carol, they were telling me stories about the Grand Crayon. They said we can go there one day." she gave Lori a giant smile.

Lori chuckled. "That's the grand canyon. We were telling her about the car ride to the Grand Canyon when Carl was a baby."

Miri scrunched her nose in remembrance. "I remember that trip. Carl chundered all over me." She pouted at Alice. "So you don't want to be with me anymore?" She stood up and turned away. "Fine." She said dramatically. "I see how it is." Miri felt a tug on the loops of her jeans. She ignored it while hiding a smile as the tugging moved to tug at the end of her shirt.

Alice whined. "Miri." She screamed and giggled as Miri turned around and picked her up.

Miri playfully started to nibble at her neck, which made her laugh. "You can stay here with them, just don't wander off. I want you to always hold onto Aunt Lori's belt loop here." She grabbed the side of Lori's pants and grabbed her belt loop. She looked over at Carl. "Little man, I want you to help your mom watch over her while I look for supplies for everyone."

Carl nodded. "I can do that, Aunt Miri."

She gave his cheek to give a pinch. "That's my little man." She put Alice down and gave her a kiss. "Be right back." She waved at her family as she went over and started to shuffle through a car. She found small things like tape, rope for climbing or tying things up, a pair of golden brown aviators that she tucked into her shirt and some weird sports drinks that looked nasty.

"Hey Miri."

She jumped as Shane showed up behind her. She got her upper body out of the car and fixed her shirt since it had risen up when she was bent forward into the car. "Hey Shane." She picked up the rope and tape before turning around to face him. "What's up?"

Shane rubbed his nose and leaned in close to her, making her lean back a bit. "I want you to stay away from Dixon."

"Excuse me? Why?"

Shane rubbed his lips as he looked around. "He's not right, Miranda. Don't you see the way he looks at you?" She narrowed her eyes at him as he moved closer to her. "He sees that you're nice to him and probably think you're his girlfriend now or something. You know how crazy guys like him and his brother are! Hell, he might even try to kidnap you when he has the chance."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She stepped back and gave Shane a look. "Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm trying to keep you safe!" he whispered and roughly grabbed her, a small pop coming from it. "Stay away from him." A wild look came to his eyes, but they changed to confusion as he looked down and to shock as he looked back into her eyes.

"Move your fucking hand, Shane, or I will gut you." She pressed her knife closer to his stomach as she glared at him. She kept her voice down so no one around would be alarmed. He removed his hand and held them up. "You don't talk to me like I'm your woman to control, Shane. Never going to happen." She went around him but kept her knife out, warning him to stay away. She placed it back on her belt as she walked up to Dale on top of the RV and Glenn fixing the radiator hose.

"Hey Dale!" Dale stopped looking through the binoculars and looked down at Miri. "I found some climbing rope and some heavy duty duct tape. I found some more stuff but they look expired." She took the glasses off of her shirt and put them on. "And I found these!" she gave a smile.

He gave her a thumbs up and a chuckle. "Put them inside the RV, in the back. Cool shades."

She nodded and put everything in the back after giving Andrea a small smile as she passed by, the other blonde trying to put a gun together. When she walked out of the RV, Rick made grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the RV. "Stay low and be quiet." he whispered.

"What's happening?" She whispered as she followed him, keeping low like he told her to.

"A big group of walkers heading towards us." His words made her run faster.

"Lori!" he called out under his breath. "Get under the cars now!" Lori nodded and went towards Carol, covering her mouth so she couldn't make any noise.

Miri saw the kids. "Kids, get under the cars now and don't make a sound or move." Carl grabbed Alice's hand and helped her under a car as Sophia went under the car next to them.

Rick pulled Miri down so they could hide under the same car. He held her close, away from the sides of the car as they saw the walkers' feet coming their way. She looked over to the kids and put her finger to her lips and mouthed the words. 'Don't move, no noise'. She watched as Carl held Alice close to him and whispered lowly in her ear as tears started to come up in her eyes. He was trying to sooth her.

"You alright?" Rick whispered into her ear.

She nodded. "You?" She felt him nod. She looked up and saw a scared looking Lori covering Carol's mouth. She mouthed 'Are you okay?' to her and got a quick nod as an answer.

The walkers were walking next to them now and the siblings have never been so tense. Once the feet stopped coming, Miri nearly cried from nerves but no one moved.

A small scream made Rick and Miri tense up again. They looked over at the kids and saw a walker had bent down to get Sophia. It was trying to reach for her but she kept moving away. They quickly rolled out from under the car with their weapons to take out the threat. Sophia grabbed the attention of another walker as she jumped over the railing and ran own a ditch to the forest.

Rick and Miri jumped over the rail, he tripped and rolled down while she slid. "Go around them. We can get to her before they do." He told her his plan and she followed him quickly. As they were running, they saw the walkers were still following Sophia.

They got to her as she stumbled to the ground. She goes to run again when Rick catches her. She calms a bit down when she notices it's Rick and Miri. She goes to grab Rick's gun. "Shoot them!" she cried.

"No! Those walkers on the road would hear it." He explained.

"Then it won't be just two, it'll be hundreds and we will die." Miri said as she looked around for the walkers. "Rick, they're getting closer."

Rick picked Sophia up and ran with Miri following him. He put Sophia down in front of a creek with a beaver dam. "Alright, just hold here." He whispered. He jumped in and helped her down. Miri jumped in, trying not to make a big splash. She followed Rick to the dam where he put Sophia down in front of. "Sophia, you have to do exactly as I say, hide in there, squeeze in tight. We'll draw them away from you."

"No, no, please don't leave me." She cried as she held onto her doll.

"Sophia," Miri stated, out of breath since they ran full speed toward her and away from walkers. "They don't get tired. We do, so we're going to deal with them separately so they're easier to take down." She looked over at Rick to see if the plan was okay and he nodded in agreement.

"We'd be able to protect you." Rick held her cheek. "This is how we all survive, you understand?" Sophia nodded and crawled into the abandoned dam. "If Miri or I don't make it back, we want you to go back to the highway, back to the others. Straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder."

"Rick." Miri warned him as the walkers came into view.

"Come on!" Rick splashed one of the walkers, causing the walker to fall into the river. Rick pushed Miri behind him. "Go right and I go left."

"Gotcha." She kept her eyes on the other walker that was walking around the dam. "Be safe."

"You too."

Without a word, she sprinted towards the walker she had her eye on and then swerved away, to attract his attention to her and away from Rick. She jumped out of the creek and hid behind a tree a few yards away as the walker was a bit behind her. She waited with her knife tight in hand as she heard the growling and stumbling coming her way. As soon as he took a step pass her, he turned his head and opened his mouth to growl but she stabbed the knife into his face, killing it. She took a deep breath as the body fell to the ground with the knife still in its head. "Fuck." She cursed. Her legs were shaking, as were her hands.

She looked around and saw she was near a medium sized dirt cliff with some water in the bottom and some rocks. She grabbed her knife from the walker's head and dragged the body to the edge of the cliff to throw it off. She picked it up with as much strength she had left and was ready to throw the body when her foot crashed through the edge, making her fall. She caught herself on the edge, scratching at the dirt ground for a way to pull herself up since the ground under her feet was too loose and her feet couldn't get good traction to push herself up. Her knife and the dead walker were a few inches away from her since she let go of them when she fell. "I better not die here!" She grunted as she tried to use her upper body strength to pull herself up, but the ground crumbled and she started to roll down.

She felt sticks break under her weight as she rolled over them, pain as rocks hit her back and side and then a loud thud went off in her head as her head hit the ground hard when she stopped rolling. She tried to keep her eyes open as she looked around, but her vision was blurring and she felt light headed. A large shadow started to walk her way and she panicked, trying to get up to run or fight but she just landed on her face in the dirt, the black edges of her vision finally catching up.

Hey guys,

Just a small note from me saying I'm sorry for taking so long, but I have 2 jobs now so that's taking up a lot of my time, but I don't forget about you guys!

Thank you so much for reading and i hope you have a great day!

Rose